China is about to expand its influence in Southeast Asia after US President Donald Trump’s administration and other Western donors have reduced their help from the region. This stems from a study published on Sunday by the Think Tank Lowy Institute. TASR informs about this on the basis of AFP report.
The region is in an uncertain situation, facing cuts of official development funds from the West, as well as repressive US duties, said Lowy Institute based in Sydney. The decline in Western aid thus brings a risk of a greater role of China. But other Asian donors can gain more importance in the region.
The overall official financing of the development of Southeast Asia, including grants, loans with low interest and other loans, reached only $ 29 billion (24.89 billion euros) in 2023, the annual report says.
However, Trump stopped development aid worth approximately $ 60 billion this year. Seven European countries, including France and Germany and the European Union itself, announced a reduction in aid between 2025 and 2029.
“These cuts will hardly affect Southeast Asia. Poor countries and social sector priorities, such as health, education and support of civil society that rely on funding from abroad, are likely to lose the most,” the report said.
Most official development aid ends in Asian countries with higher incomes. The poorer states such as Eastern Timor, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar remain behind. This deepens the gap in a region that could weaken long -term stability, justice and durability, says Think Tank.
Despite significant economic growth in most Southeast Asian countries, approximately 86 million people still live from income less than $ 3.65 per day.
The inflow of finance to the development of Southeast Asia can thus be redirected and will flow from the east, especially from China instead of the West. And since they have weakened the business relations of the region with the US, it brings other favorable conditions for Beijing. “The relative importance of China as an actor of development in the region will increase as the western support decreases,” the institute said.
Funds from China for the development of Southeast Asia increased by $ 1.6 billion to $ 4.9 billion in 2023. These were mostly large infrastructure projects such as railway links in Indonesia and Malaysia.
The Chinese Promises of Finance for other infrastructure projects in Southeast Asia increased four times to almost $ 10 billion, especially as a result of the revival of the project of the Great Port in Myanmar.
On the contrary, Western projects of infrastructure development in the region have not been held in recent years, the study said. The West also requires that the transition to pure energy is reflected in other projects in the region, as southeast Asia dependent on coal is the main source of rapidly growing emissions.
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